RWBY: A Thorn in My Heart

Chapter 24: Black Heart

Everyone stood silent on the cliff to Kuroyuri, unable to think of what to say to the bitter looking Ren and shell-shocked Nora who stared at the ruins of their old hometown.

"This was their home? It… It looks awful… just like" Weiss thought, choosing to keep these thoughts to herself. Seeing the rundown old town that reeked of death reminded her of Mt. Glenn. That fortress had fallen to Grimm ages ago, with the attack being an absolute slaughter for the civilization. The mere notion such a tragedy happened to 2 of her closest friends home made her heart sink. She wished they told her about that, but soon shut that thought down herself.

"Yeah right Weiss, everyone has secrets. Your no different." She cursed herself mentally.

Yang was less reserved due to her anger at Ren for assaulting Ruby, even if lightly, for something she couldn't have known and headed off towards him.

"Hey! I don't care if your upset being here, you don't just hurt my sister!" she yelled; her hair sparking and feet beginning to scorch the ground, leaving burn footprints in the ground.

Nora snapped out of her shock in that moment, sensing the danger from Yang's attitude. However, it was not her friends temper towards Ren, who ignored her to keep bitterly watching the town, but what it would draw in. Instantly she got in between Yang and her husband, exhibiting a frightful expression that surprised Yang out of her rage a bit.

"Everyone keep your voices down and fricking chill!" she yelled quietly, her whispers putting everyone but Ren on high alert. If Nora, the hyperactive who screamed with joy for battle, was telling them to be quite it must be serious. Ruby herself took a deep breath to collect herself and stared at Nora with unease.

"What's wrong Nora? Is it Grimm?" she asked her friend. After all, with all these negative feelings surrounding the group it wouldn't be a stretch to fear a whole horde of Grimm approach them.

"You don't know the worst of it Ruby." Nora replied, and she meant the very worst. Nora took one more look at Ren, her heart sank as she knew this would upset him to no end, but her friends needed to know what they were up against.

With a heavy sigh, she began to recount the day she met Ren. This was a day that she thought would be the happiest of her life at the time before it would soon become one of her worst nightmares.

Nora was an orphan on the streets in Kuroyuri. She told her friends this particular detail with a painful sigh. It was something she came to terms with years ago, but still didn't like talking about.

"The reason I'm an orphan… was because my parents abandoned me to die." She bitterly said. Her response eliciting looks of horror on her friends.

"H-How… How could they do that to you?!" Ruby exclaimed softy, not forgetting Nora's prior warning to keep voices down. While she understood Raven left Yang, who gritted her teeth angrily at this news, to try and stop Salem, she just couldn't comprehend someone abandoning their child to die.

Nora rubbed her arm awkwardly, struggling past her desire to vomit to speak her answer.

"W-We were attacked while traveling on vacation by Grimm and they basically threw me at the jackals to save their own skin." Nora sadly said. She felt mixed feelings from this. While she rightfully condemn them for this cowardice, she had experienced how frightening coming face to face with the crimson eyes and jagged fangs of those beasts was. A small part of her felt that fear was justified, but she still felt intense rage over her parent's unacceptable choice. It was the exact same feeling she had when she was a child and what allowed her to unlock her semblance and shock those Grimm to death.

"But after I killed them, I wondered around for days and couldn't find Mom and Dad." She recounted, saying the parental name terms with slight rage. She felt they had no right to be called that really after abandoning her, but didn't know their first names so dropped the issue.

"I was starving once I got to Ren's hometown. For weeks I stole bread and drank hose water to survive." She continued. Despite it being minor thefts, she bitterly told her friends how people hit her for stealing, and how even kids bullied her for being a "street rat".

Ren bit his lower lip at those words. He still cursed himself to this day not helping her against those bullies.

"Son, sometimes the worst action to take,… is taking no action at all." He spouted out quietly like rotten milk. Those were his fathers words to him when he first saw a young Nora getting that harassment. It brought him intense shame for being frozen, not doing the right thing out of cowardice. It was part of the reason he became a huntsman, to never make that mistake again. After all, it's what cost him his parents lives.

The day he met Nora, she and him were hiding underneath his house. They said no words at all, simply hugging each other's shivering bodies in fear. A fiendish looking Grimm man with a whole horse for a torso and jagged bones protruding out of its back and head attacked the village. It was as if the demon came straight from hell as no matter how many arrows or sword slices it took, it kept regenerating all its injuries and attacked. Ren still saw the gore of those claws slicing open men's eyeballs or throats as they bleed out, their bodies seizure in pain. Ren's father saw the two underneath the house and ordered them to get inside with his mother, but on that command, the demon dived through the house wall and grabbed her. Ren didn't even have time to yell her name before the beast dangled her by the neck and snapped it, killing her. Ren, Nora, and his father's eyes widen in terror; they stood on in silence seeing her own wide open but lifeless as her limp body was soon unceremoniously plopped to the ground.

"Mama!" Ren screamed, his crying alerting the beast who raised its claw to attack him. Ren's father jumped in the way, shielding him and Nora with his blade but receiving a strike to his face and leaving 3 claw marks across his right eye in the process. As he clenched his face's wound, breathing heavily he looked over his shoulder to his tearful son and future daughter-in law.

"Take her and run son!" he ordered. Ren whimpered in defiance, he couldn't leave him but he winced in fear as his father saw his hesitation.

"Don't think about me and just keep going!" he barked. This time a young Ren did as he was told. Tears drenched his face as he ran off with an equally frightened and tearful young Nora. They ran as fast as possible, not looking back despite hearing the demons screeches and sword clanging. Their leg muscles soon ached as they dropped to the ground panting. They looked and saw they couldn't get far only a few blocks. They were young and untrained so it was to be expected of out of shape children. Ren soon heard his father scream in pain and looked on in the distance. His face turned pale as he heard the beasts screech and realized.

"Dad's… dead." he tearfully said in shock. He looked down to see Nora was clasping her head, crying in misery like he was. He wanted this pain he was feeling to end. He thought maybe if he hugged her it would ease up. Ren's adult self now knew such hurt would never cease, but was still amused how naïve thinking could sometimes be proven true. As young ren hugged Nora, his body and hers were enveloped by his Aura. Just as the beast turned around the corner and saw them, Ren's semblance activated and masked their despair. With no negative feelings sensed, the demon had no interest in them as they soon fled at the sight of it.

"And that's how me and Ren met. After all that we stole food and lived life on the streets till we came to vale." Nora said solemnly as she finished her story.

"I am so sorry for your loss." Blake sadly said. She clasped her chest, her heart aching with sadness. She could only imagine the pain Nora and Ren were feeling, but knew from losing her own mother it was extremely painful.

Ruby's eyes widen in shock at the realization of what Nora meant.

"You think that monsters still here?!" she said nervously.

Nora nodded her head.

"I can feel it, it's making my skin crawl and my stomach rumble just like before." She said as she fought a wave of nausea. It was very difficult to contain her sickness of being back here, but knew being open with her distress would likely draw that demon out.

Ruby's eyes narrowed seeing her friend's pain. If that creature is responsible for her and Ren's suffering, then she needed to get some revenge.

"Then lets rip off that monsters skin."

Ruby venomously said, brandishing Crescent rose and Penny's blade in her hands.

Her idea was met with nods from her team would likewise brandished their weapons. Though they were running on half their aura, they felt confidant in a group lead by Ruby to face any Grimm and they just had to help Nora and Ren avenge the latter's parents.

"Are you shitting me!" Ren screamed, startling the group.

Ren furiously stepped towards Ruby.

"If my father and this whole town couldn't kill that thing, what makes you think…YOU CAN!?" he said quietly before losing what little composure he had left and screamed. To him it was a ridiculous motion to fight that beast. His father was one of the best warriors he ever saw and felt it was suicidal to face the one that slayed him. But Ruby kept a firm stance and glare at him.

"We would fight any opponent for our friends, for our family!" she yelled back.

Ren clenched his fists, normally Ruby mentioning him and Nora like family was endearing, but this time it filled him with dread. "The last time I was hear, my family and friends were all sliced open by a monster!" he said bitterly. He thought emphasizing the loss of his parent's and childhood friends was needed to shoot down her dangerous idea. To his irritation she wasn't deterred the slightest as she simply walked passed him and nudged his arm with her shoulder. Rage fueled him as he grabbed her shoulder, preparing to let her have it before everyone froze in place hearing a loud screech from the village. Ren and Nora felt all strength in their legs evaporate as they recognized that voice. The demon was still there.

"The Knuckelavee." Nora whispered.

As soon as she spit out these words, the demon walked out of the town, looking up maliciously at the top of the cliff where the heroes looked down upon it. Weiss had her hand to her mouth in pure disgust at its grotesque appearance. Blake gripped Gambral Shroud and Ruby her blades as they gave a war cry and jumped down the cliff to attack it.

"No Don't attack it head on!" Ren yelled, but his warning came too late as the Knuckelavee's arms whipped around like a tornado, repelling the tip of their blade's and Yang's fingers sending them crash back towards the cliff's wall. Their Aura flickered as they groaned in pain from the impact. Ruby's emerald sword flickered as its penny symbol beeped.

"Ruby I scan that you and the others just lost a third of your Aura so please be careful." Penny said, despite her usual professional tone, Ruby could sense the concern in her lover bot's voice.

She gritted her teeth as she cursed herself for that reckless charge, but this anger was a natural lure for the Grimm who whipped its arm back and sling-shotted it at her, grasping her neck and squeezing tightly. Ren saw his mother appear in Ruby's place as she grasped the Grimm's hands and struggled to breath. He wanted to move, but felt his legs stuck in the ground like quicksand, unable to force them to move despite his desire.

"Ruby!" he yelled, but his concerns proved unwarranted as he breathed a sigh of relief seeing the maiden summon thorns from her neck that pierced the hand of the Grimm; which shrieked in pain. Ruby gasped for air as she regained her necks freedom, sending the thorns back into her body.

"Time for payback!" Weiss shouted as she raised her sabor and summoned multiple white glyphs. She conjured up a huge white Chinese dragon to Nora and Ren's astonishment. They had never seen that one before, no doubt the result of her 5 years of training and missions.

The dragon screeched as it encircled the Knuckelavee and bit down on its shoulder. Weiss staring intently and motioning her sabor to control its movements to ensure the jagged spikes on the Grimm's back didn't pierce her summon. She breathed a heavy sigh of satisfaction, and Yang saw she was flickering her blue aura.

"Isn't that too much Aura? Your going to tire yourself out too soon!" She yelled, but Weiss shook her head in defiance.

"It doesn't' matter if I'm laid up if we kill it now!" she yelled back. Nora instantly widened her eyes as she heard these words.

"Kill it? That's possible?" She asked herself.

She saw the dragon biting the screeching Grimm as Ruby and Blake delivered sword slices to its skin and started shooting it with their guns, but the marks kept regenerating. To her it seemed fool-hardy to try and kill a Grimm that was seemingly immortal.

She felt her gut tighten as she felt stomach cramps and struggled to yell.

"G-Girls, please… You can't kill it… just Run." She stuttered, but her broken tone could reach the team as they kept delivering blow after blow to the trapped Grimm. Nora had sweat dripping down her face as she assumed a fetal position and clasped her aching stomach. She looked up to see her husband, exhibiting a sad look on his face.

"Their just gonna die too aren't they?" she tearfully asked him. Ren gasped in response, looking over the ledge to check on them. The Knuckelavee screeched as it bite the white dragon, which roared as its body evaporated but not before shocking the beast.

Weiss smiled as her blade glowed white with electricity, having placed some into her glyph a while ago. The Grimm spasms in pain as its arms begin glowing patches of white that sizzle. Ren's eyes widen as a sense of relief overwhelms him and he breaths rapidly.

"Oh my god, they just hurt it and its not regenerating!" he thought joyfully. Finally he saw a chance at vengeance for his father and mother, whose images flushed his mind. He looked down to see Nora, still quivering in fear and pain. She clearly didn't see this revelation. Ren soon picked her up in his arms like a princess and carried her to the ledge.

"Nora, Nora look at it. They figured out its weakness!" he yelled with excitement. His tone and declaration made Nora's pain cease instantly to her surprise. She was so confused right now, about her pain, her friends absurd battle, and now this revelation was beginning to overwhelm her.

"What did they do?" she asked, she couldn't think of anything else to say right now.

Ren merely stood her up, keeping her hand on his shoulder to support her as she pointed at team RWBY.

Black summoned some clones and took some lightning dust from Weiss and injected it into them. With a war cry they charged straight at the Grimm who pierced their bodies with its jagged claws while the horse stomped on their stomachs as they groaned in pain.

"This is what you wanted me to see are you nut!?" Nora yelled, her eyes tearing up seeing the clones getting killed. It may not be the real Blake, but the image of her getting destroyed sent shivers down her spine making her remember the village people dying. Ren merely shook his head and pointed at them again.

Blake's clones dispersed but each one's body discharged electricity that once more shocked the Knuckelavee.

"Lightning! It's vulnerable to Lightning! Don't you get it Nora? Your our ace in the hole!" he joyfully yelled.

Nora felt a wave of mixed feelings overtake her. She felt happy Ren was praising her, giving her hope for vengeance, but at the same time worried how he might feel if she charged at the beast and killed it. Would he love her for avenging his parents, or would he feel later she denied him a chance to do it himself. She took one look at her husbands smiling face.

"You really think we can do this?" she meekly asked. Her spirit was begging for his blessing, just as much as it did on their last date night were he proposed to her at a dance.

"Yeah, your stronger so you got a better chance than me though." He warmly said as he tapped her nose playfully..

"I can, he thinks I can, Renny thinks I'm the strongest!" she thought to herself as she smiled. She always loved it when he praised her strength, with or without a hammer, she felt invincible with those kinds of words.

Electrical energy overtook her as she thought this. With a loud cheer, her eyes glowed pink as pink lightning charged from her arms and legs.

She looked back at the ships wreckage to see her hammer lying on the floor, but her aura was draining fast and didn't want to waste time not hitting this monster. She was in just too good of a mood right now.

"Banzai!" she screeched as she jumped with Ren in one arm and landed a huge lightning charged kick to the Grimm. It clasped its face in agony as several jagged teeth fell to the ground.

"Nora!" Ruby yelled joyfully. She thought it was about time she and Ren joined the fray. It just didn't feel right to kill this beast when it was them who it hurt the most.

"You got your groove back!" Yang happily added.

"Nope just lightning, here have some!" Nora replied in a fast paced voice. Her lightening was clearly overcharging her senses and before she could object Yang felt the same. As Nora clasped her arm, Yang felt a surge of electrical power overtake its muscles. It felt like it was on fire in a different way than she was used too. Like when she absorbed that laser beam from Penny's ship at Beacon. Flaring up her hair, Yang's eyes turned from red to Nora's pink as she formed her fists of fire and lightening and charged at the Grimm. Though the demon body was reeling in pain, the horse could still fight and lifted its body with a screeching neigh that caused everyone but Yang to clasp their ears in pain. Yang ignored this sensation as she performed a Gatling barrage of fire and lightning punches. The horse Grimm parried some of them with its hooves rapid kicks but found its underside completely overwhelmed. With a furious roar, Yang injected her fist into its underbelly and it shrieked as its innards were roasted as it exploded in a ball of fire and lightening. Everyone covered their faces with their arms as ash and wind punched their faces. As the dust settled they saw Yang panting as her eyes and hair went back to normal. She had expended the last of her energy with that attack and collapsed to the ground.

"That's… *breathes heavy* the best I can do." She said before her vision grew fuzzy and she closed her eyes.

Blake soon saw an image beyond Yang, it was the demon body of the Knuckelavee was lifting its body up with its arms. It had clearly taken damage, with a broken mouth and snapped of left horn, but its torso was beginning to generate a pair of human legs. It soon began crawling over to Yang, obviously intending to get revenge for its partner's death. It raised its left claw to strike her unconscious body. Blake gave it a death glare, she was not having any of that.

"Get away from my partner!" Blake yelled as she whipped Gambrol shroud and snagged Yang to pull her away from the Demon's attack, which ruptured the ground leaving a gaping hole.

She pulled her partner back and sent her flying towards Ren.

"Ren catch!" she yelled, alerting the shocked man to her intentions a little fast for his liking as he rushed and barely raised his arms up in time to catch Yang. Before he could express his annoyance, it turned to shock as the demon screeched, soon it fully regenerated human legs and whipped its arms around, forming a black tornado around itself and Nora. It may have been a Grimm, but it had instincts and limited intelligence. It could tell the Valkyrie could pose a serious threat to it with her lightning and sought to end her first. Nora's lightning soon shorted out as she clasped her throat, struggling to breath.

"What's wrong Nora!" Ren yelled, worried for his wife's life.

"The Grimm is forming a wind funnel to extract oxygen, something it doesn't need. Lighting is useless against strong winds, it's a natural deterrent…" before penny could continue ranting through her sword, Ruby grasped her and shook her annoyed.

"Enough with the science class Penny! How do we save her?" Ruby asked.

"Does anyone have any Gravity Dust?" Penny asked. Ren widen his eyes as he rummaged through his coat and found some.

"I have it, what for?" he asked as handed Ruby it.

"We can embed it in Ruby so she can avoid getting blown away by the wind. Then she and I can slice the Grimm's arms off to stop the attack." Penny finished explaining as quickly as possible to avoid annoying Ruby and from sensing Nora running out of air.

In a heartbeat, Ruby injected the dust crystal into her arms veins, despite the pain it caused her as her veins soon felt like they were burning. She clenched her teeth as her body felt heavy from the enhanced gravity, struggling to keep her head up.

"Man, I haven't felt this much weight since I was pregnant." She joked, wanting to remain confidant despite the pressure she was feeling.

As she gripped Crescent Rose near its upper handle to dual wield penny's emerald blade more efficiently, she turned to Ren.

"Don't worry, she isn't dead yet and Ill keep it that way!" her words had an immediate impact on Ren, who simply nodded, unable to show his true feelings.

"Sometimes the worst action to take,…is taking no action at all." His father's words rang through his mind. Ruby was risking her life to save his wife while he was standing around like an idiot, it brought him no end of frustration as he saw her struggle to advance towards the funnel and was soon out of sight as the black wind enveloped the image of her.

The winds made her body feel like being punched in the face as Ruby struggled to remain upright, let alone walk in this storm. If it wasn't for the gravity dusk she would likely be in another world like in the fairy tale books her mom read her. Ruby breathed heavily, and then soon felt the air leak out of her lungs rapidly.

"Hurry Ruby, we need to do this before you suffocate too!" Penny exclaimed through her blade as Ruby's eyes went bloodshot from stress. She sensed the air in Ruby and Nora, who was collapsed clenching her throat, leaving them rapidly and knew it was only a minute before they would choke.

Ruby pushed her lower waist and jumped with all her might, fighting the gravity to get underneath the Knuckelavee. She ducked her head, certain one swipe of those rotating arms would knock her head off. She clenched her blades as she eyed the arms, even in this storms she could make out a small opening in the attack.

"Lets end this!" She thought, unable to speak with no oxygen left in her lungs.

Taking the gravity crystal out of her arm, which hurt like hell, Ruby allowed the winds to ease her lightened weight as well to propel towards the Grimm and spin. She petal bursted to enhance her speed even further, slicing off both arms of the Grimm in one fell swoop as Penny predicted she would. As the Grimm screeched in pain, the black winds died down as Ruby and Nora fell to their knees, gasping for air that their lungs were screaming desperately for.

Wasting no time seeing this, Blake took the wire she had on her blade and wrapped it around the Knuckelavee, trapping it in place.

"Hurry Weiss! It might regenerate its arms any minute!" she screeched to the president who stood up straight after kneeling to check on her partner. She was surprised when Ren placed a hand in front of her face. He didn't want her to do this.

"This is my home, and therefore my right!" he said. He and Nora suffered the most because of this thing; no one else should be the one to kill it.

Weiss instantly complied, understanding his desire as he brandished a sword and slowly advanced towards the demon, who vainly struggled to get out of its snare.

"This is for my home." He coldy said before slicing off its remaining horn.

"This is for my Father and Mother" he bitterly said as he cut out the eye of the Demon, getting payback for it taking his fathers all those years ago.

Ren then looked over to see Nora, hugging Ruby as she looked on at him panting. He felt his rage subside a little at the sight of her face.

"And this one is for me and Nora!" he yelled as he his blade cleaved into the neck of the monster. It's screeching came to a sudden halt as silence filled the air and its head separated from its neck. The demon's body soon turned to ash and scattered across the sky. Ren looked at the sky as breathed a sigh, his body feeling light as a feather as he imagined just floating away with all his pain that left him.

"Mom…Dad… it's finally over." He smiled as he fell on his back, too tired to keep standing.

"Ren!" Nora screamed as she got up and ran towards her husband. Suddenly her vision grew hazy and she felt light-headed. She didn't know why, she had regained enough oxygen to stand.

She soon fell to the floor just a few inches from her husband.

"Nora?" Ruby said as she ran over to inspect her friend. She noticed her face pale and vomit start to escape her friend's mouth.

"Sorry, I just… felt so dizzy for a minute." Nora said sheepishly.

But Ruby knew this was something severe. She had been in that wind funnel as well, but even though she nearly lost all her air she still felt fine after catching her breath for a couple of minutes. If it wasn't a lack of oxygen why was Nora so sick…

Then a sudden realization dawned on her. This was vertigo, the random dizziness, nausea and light-headedness. She had experienced them before and it only pointed to one thing she could think off. Everyone shuddered when they heard Ruby's declaration after what they just went through, for it filled them with fear.

"Nora, your… pregnant aren't you?" she asked somberly.

Well Nora's a mamma too, and everyone is going to lose their shit realizing they endangered an unborn baby in battle. Black heart refers to the Grimm monster, the feelings of trauma and helplessness Ren feels seeing Nora and the others fight well without him, and Nora and her baby in danger. Next time Ren and Nora make a difficult decision as Team Rwby prepares to contact Atlas for pickup. Spoilers, we will have a nice family scene at the hospital with little Thorn and his grandparents as well in ch 25: Those We Leave Behind.